On the other hand...

You know those times where you think of the things you should have said about an hour after you should have said them (or a day...or five minutes...either way it's too late)?

It's the story of my life, and I don't just mean the witty things. I'm talking about the things that needed to be said. The ways I really should have reacted. Yeah, we agreed that "the joke" needed to die, but it was a window into okay-really-where-is-this-going? and I managed to not even think of saying anything else outside of "yeah...that joke probably needs to die."

There's no telling how many conversations in my life have gone like this:

"And I mean, really, (insert thought here)."

"Well, did you tell him/her so?"

"No, I didn't think of it until (later, this morning, just now, etc.)."

I know I'm not alone, but man.


On an entirely unrelated note, what the hell is up with this twitter thing on the left about Oprah??? I didn't write that. Oprah annoys me. Who the f*** is hacking my twitter??

EDIT: Nobody hacked my twitter. The widget only displayed tweets from "FearlessBeauty," but I recently changed my username to "ericarhyn" and twitter didn't keep up. Apparently whoever decided to become FearlessBeauty after me is super inspired by Oprah.

Top Hats and Bib Overalls

Okay, so jokes about getting married someday are not cool. Gentlemen - if there are any out there reading this - take note. You just don't kid around with a female friend when it comes to that topic. It will mess with her head. And if it doesn't mess with her head, it will eventually begin to mess with yours. I've seen that happen, too.

Now, I do not necessarily mean that she will actually expect you to marry her. This is not what I'm saying. What I am saying is that one of you will end up seriously bothered wondering just how the other feels. Even if you have already been given an idea, that won't cut it. You will need to know.

Onward!

Tomorrow I start eating healthier again. I'm excited. I'm ready for energy again, for deliciousness at my own hands rather than those of the fast food manufacturers (I say "manufacturers" because, really, who actually cooks that stuff?), and for the weird looks my aunt and uncle give me when I pull out the miso paste or the sun-dried tomatoes (or, shoot, vegetables in general).

I went grocery shopping this evening, you see. My heart is happy.

Also, I find myself newly determined to start running again. With that said, it's just after 11:00 now. If I'm going to get up early enough in the morning, I should probably go to bed.

Yeah, I'm going to bed before midnight. Pretty regularly. I don't even have to be anywhere until 11 the next morning.

My To-Do Food List

I have decided that it is time to expand my cooking repertoire, particularly beyond the recipe realm. Recipes be damned (with the exception of baking). So I have decided to make a list of dishes to master. This list shall include many of those typical dishes that all the moms/grandmas/aunts/church ladies in our lives seem to know by instinct, but also stuff like Pad Thai, Okonomiyaki, Gyros, Tiramisu, and the perfect Taco. Okay, so I might have to keep some recipes around.

On my list so far, besides those that I just mentioned:

Tikka Masala (by suggestion of Amy Reyes)
Korma (also Miss Reyes' doing)
Lassi
Curry (yes, it's a broad term, and I don't care)
Christmas Pudding
Pumpkin Pie
Apple (any fruit, really) Pie
Lasagna
Chili from scratch (I must break free from the packaged seasoning mix!)
a better Burger
homemade Milkshake
homemade Salsa (traditional, corn, black bean, mango, etc.)
Chicken and Dumplings
homemade Salad Dressings
Spanakopita
Baklava
Gumbo from scratch
Jambalaya from scratch
perfect Mashed Potatoes
Chicken Parmesan
homemade Pesto
Tempura (worked on this before, still trying to get the batter to my liking)
various Stir Fry Sauces
various Pasta Sauces
Roast Chicken
Biscuits from scratch
Tortillas
Bread
Fudge
Potato Soup
Clam Chowder
Hot Cider
perfect Sweet Tea
perfect Latte
Chinese Dumplings (aka Potstickers)
Chicken Enchiladas
homemade Pizza
Calzones
various homemade Pickles

Yeah, several items on this list are less than practical. I know that, and I don't really care. =D

I'm sure I shall think of more later. Any suggestions?

Erica's biggun sigh of relief

Okay, so the message I sent has been discussed openly, there is absolutely NO weirdness (weirdness, again, having been my biggest worry), and the other girl seems to be officially out of the picture, but it all comes down to distance. If it weren't for the distance.

This is not surprising. I mean, if I had a dollar for every time I heard "Erica, come to St. Louis," I could get a nicer car.

I will probably suggest eventually that the distance issue just sounds like a crutch (we've discussed "crutches" before), and I might point out the mega kick-ass friendship we've already developed almost exclusively long-distance that only keeps getting better, but for the time being I'm just really really happy that nothing is weird and that this friendship is still, in fact, mega kick-ass.

Lie of the Day: No news is good news.

Within the next 24 hours (and I'm being generous here) I hope to know something to tell you all concerning the guy I mentioned a while back. I might be gushing (deal with it), I might be hurting (comfort me!), or I might still be completely uncertain about what will happen, but anything is better than the helpless wait for the phone call whilst trying not to be sick to my stomach (fml).

For the past...well...for a while now, I've been trying to scrounge up the balls to let this guy know that, at this point, all he has to do if he wants to be more than friends is ask. To make a long story short, I suddenly found the opportunity slipping away, drove two hours to see him so I could say it, failed, asked him to call me so I could say it, failed again, and then finally texted him since the words were clearly not ever going to come out of my mouth.

That was at about 1:15am on Friday night/Saturday morning. It is now roughly 6pm on Sunday. I still haven't heard anything.

Nerve-wracking, right? Right? Did I mention I haven't taken the initiative and put myself out there like this since my sophomore year of high school?

My worst fear, actually, is that this whole friendship will fall to shit, but I'd like to think that we're both better than that. I'd like to think that, should he not ultimately be into the idea (a.k.a. if he picks the other girl), we can still be understanding, we can respect each others' positions, and we can still be there for each other.

Then again, if he should do what I mentioned right there inside the parentheses, my monopoly is gone. As it has been recently, he talks to me on the phone more than he even sees anyone else, with maybe the exception of his uncle. If he ends up dating some other girl up there...wow, this just got really depressing. I'm going to go distract myself now.

Lata.

P.S. I don't regret a damn thing.